Accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting: the formation of an enterprise accounting policy

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 18:37

A document that defines an accounting policy for tax accounting purposes is similar to a document drawn up according to accounting rules in accounting. It is used for tax purposes. It is much more difficult to draw up it due to the fact that there are no clear instructions and recommendations for its development in the law. Tax officers and accountants of the organization have to develop fiscal policy in the same way as accounting policy, based on the norms of tax legislation. Next, we suggest paying attention to the main points that should be indicated in the accounting policy document for tax accounting purposes.

What is the tax accounting policy?

This is a code that sets out the rules for keeping records in a company. The document fixes the ways of document circulation, assessment and control of the facts of entrepreneurial activity. A sample accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting is not fixed by law. Application of the rules fixed in the accounting policy,affects the result of the company's work and the basis for calculating fiscal fees. There are three types of accounting policies:

• Accounting.
• Tax.
• IFRS.

The procedure for writing an accounting policy for tax purposes is described in the RF Tax Code. This is the most important law for the tax authorities. An accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting is a set of legally allowed methods for determining, evaluating and allocating income and (or) costs, their accounting and other indicators of the organization’s entrepreneurial activity required for tax accounting purposes.

Accounting policy validity period

The company must apply the accounting policy for tax accounting from the date of opening until the moment of liquidation. To adjust the adopted fiscal policy, a change is required:

• accounting methods used by the organization;
• working conditions of the organization;
• fiscal legislation of our country.

In the first two cases, adjustments in accounting policies for tax purposes are applied from the beginning of a new fiscal period. In the latter case, from the period when the changes come into force. The VAT policy can be adjusted once a year, changes can be made from the beginning of the year following the period of its approval. New organizations must use an accounting policy for tax purposes from the moment they are opened. There are no limits for income tax. For the VAT calculation to be required, the deadline for adopting the accounting policy must be no later thancompletion of the first fiscal period of the business activity of the organization. The tax period for calculating VAT is a quarter.

The developed accounting policy for tax accounting purposes is applied until such time as adjustments are made to it. It is not required to draw up an updated tax policy annually. Fiscal accounting uses a consistent principle.

The accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting is the same for the entire organization and its structures. Legal entities do not have to submit their accounting fiscal policy to the inspectorate after it has been developed. If the inspectors audit the accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting, then the company will have to submit it to the tax service within a period of no more than five days after the submission of the requirement to provide the document. Failure to comply with this order may be regarded by tax inspectors as a malicious obstacle to the implementation of fiscal control.

Create a consolidated accounting document

Employees of organizations can use special software to create regulations for taxation, taking into account all current changes. It is called the accounting policy constructor for tax accounting purposes. The software product, as a rule, is designed to create a small accounting policy, reflecting in it only the most necessary indicators. For each indicator, the constructor provides several accounting methods, the company chooses the most suitable one for itself. On the sites whereconstructors tend to provide examples of accounting policies for tax purposes.

At the very beginning, it is necessary to determine which fiscal accounting regime the organization uses:

• general fiscal system of taxation (DOS);
• general fiscal regime combined with payment of UTII;
• simplified taxation system (STS);
• simplified fiscal regime, combined with the payment of UTII.

After the organization is determined with the tax regime, a sample accounting policy is drawn up for tax accounting purposes.

2018 Changes

Adjustments of the current year are insignificant. They touched upon the new provisions of the Tax Code. One of the innovations concerned the control of costs for the purchase of fixed assets. For the next four years, the list of objects for organizations to which accelerated depreciation will be applied with a coefficient of no more than three has been expanded. The incremental rate can only be applied to assets put into operation after the beginning of 2018 and only to funds specified in the list approved by the Russian government. If an organization has such assets, and it intends to apply a new indicator when depreciating them, this is required to be specified in the accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting in 2018.

Let's take a closer look at three more changes this year:

• Introduction of the concept of "tax deduction for investments".
• Adjustments in accounting for R&D expenses (Research and developmentdesign work).
• Changes in accounting for input VAT.

Tax deduction for investments

Since the beginning of this year, a new concept of "tax deduction for investments" has been introduced into Chapter 25 of the Tax Code. Since 2018, organizations have the right to reduce the income tax payment paid in advance by the newly introduced fiscal deduction. This could be the cost of acquiring or upgrading fixed assets in depreciation groups three through seven.

The indicated costs can be deducted 100%: up to nine tenths from the regional part of the fee, up to one tenth from the federal one. The amount of the investment deduction for the part of the fee paid to the regional budget cannot exceed the difference between the calculated amount of the fiscal fee without the deduction and the tax calculated at the rate of 5%. That is, 5% will have to be paid to the regional budget. If the deduction exceeds the fiscal fee, then the unused part will be transferred to future periods. The investment deduction is applied to the fiscal fee starting from the period in which the main asset was put into use or its value was changed.

According to the accounting policy, for the purposes of tax accounting in 2018, objects due to which the fiscal deduction for investments was used are not depreciated. In the case of the sale of the main objects in respect of which the deduction was used, after the end of the period of its use, the entire amount under the contract will be recognized as income. If the underlying asset, which wasthe investment deduction is applied, will be sold before the end of its useful life, the organization will have to recover the fiscal amounts not paid due to the application of the deduction. In this case, the cost of the fixed asset upon acquisition will be taken into account in the costs.

When deciding on the use of a fiscal deduction for investments, it is necessary to take into account that when checking a tax return, the inspector has the right to demand clarifications and materials on the use of the deduction. Transactions of an organization applying the deduction with its dependent person will be recognized as subject to control if the income on them exceeds the amount of 60 million rubles. At the moment, it is legalized that taxpayers eligible for the deduction will be determined at the regional level. Subjects can independently determine the conditions for granting an investment deduction. Given that such changes improve the situation of organizations, the subjects can adopt the relevant rules and extend their effect from the beginning of the current year. The decision to use the deduction must be written into the entity's accounting policy for fiscal accounting purposes.

R&D

There have been changes in the legal rules for accounting for R&D costs:

• Additional list of R&D costs.
• The procedure for recognizing the costs of scientific and research work, which can be taken into account in fiscal taxation with a coefficient increased by one and a half, has been clarified. At the moment, organizations have the right to take into account these expenses in other expenses of the reporting fiscal period in which the work or their individual stages werecompleted. However, from the beginning of the year, expenses will form the initial price of intangible depreciable assets, exclusive rights to the results of intellectual work obtained as a result of the work. In the organization's tax accounting policy, it is required to fix the selected cost recognition procedure.

Input VAT

At the beginning of 2018, changes were made regarding organizations that have transactions subject to VAT and not subject to VAT. When carrying out operations, the company is obliged to keep separate records of the input fiscal fee for taxable and non-taxable transactions. If the cost of non-taxable transactions in total does not exceed 5%, the organization has the right not to keep separate records and deduct the entire amount of the fiscal fee.

Changes in the law will no longer allow companies not to separate input VAT accounting for taxable and non-taxable transactions. Only the right to deduct the total fiscal fee will remain. Thus, the sample accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting for 2018 according to the OSNO of an organization in the field of VAT accounting needs to be adjusted in accordance with changes in legislation.

Accounting policy for companies under OSNO

For tax accounting purposes, company policy should contain the following points:

• Rules for calculating income tax. The document is required to specify the order of allocation of income and expenses. For organizations engaged in commercial activities, this issue is the main one. For non-profit organizationsa problem that is solved when writing a tax policy due to the separate accounting of taxable and non-taxable income and expenses for all works. This is one of the main parameters of the tax accounting policy.
• Accounting separately. There is a requirement to maintain the said records for organizations receiving funding for certain purposes. If the company that received these funds does not have such accounting, the income is treated as taxable from the date of receipt. How to make separate accounting for income and expenses made at their expense is not specified in the law, therefore, a financial specialist should clarify this point in the accounting policy for tax accounting purposes using the example of an organization. For example, if in an organization income and expenses are divided between statutory and income-generating activities, then accounting registers in accounting can also be used as tax ones. If there is no necessary information in accounting, then the organization has the right to supplement them with details. It is important to separate the costs of managing the organization and indirect costs financed from non-taxable income, as they are related to statutory activities. Although part of the indirect costs can be paid through commercial activities. The differentiation of indirect costs is based on the actual volume of their payment.
• Property subject to depreciation. The procedure for determining such assets is prescribed by law. In the accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting, using the example of an organization, the depreciation method should be determined. There is a linear method and a non-linear one. Choice atbusiness activity is more often done in favor of a linear, simpler way of calculating depreciation. The method chosen by the company applies to fixed assets, regardless of the date of their purchase. Regardless of the method chosen in the accounting policy for taxation purposes, the linear method is used in relation to buildings and assets included in the eighth, ninth and tenth depreciation groups, regardless of the period when they began to operate. This is easily verified when auditing accounting policies for tax purposes. All calculations in the organization must occur in accordance with the accounting tax policy. So, for example, the accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting allows the calculation of depreciation at rates lower than legal ones, if this is enshrined in the document. The decision to apply a declining indicator in business activities is prescribed in the policy with the choice of the depreciation method. When selling depreciable property by organizations using reduced depreciation rates, their final cost is determined based on the depreciation rate used.
• Depreciation premium, which implies the cost of fixed assets, which can be taken into account in the amount of not more than 10% of the initial cost of the organization's fixed assets or costs incurred in cases of changes in fixed assets due to reconstruction, liquidation or modernization. An exception is fixed assets received free of charge. In particular, the depreciation bonus is provided for property that is subject to depreciation. Meanwhile, the property of organizations engaged in non-commercial activities, received as proceeds for certain purposes or purchased at the expense of such funds and used to carry out activities in accordance with the charter, is not depreciated. The application of the premium is the right of the organization, the use of which must be fixed in the accounting document of the organization for the purposes of taxation of the fiscal collection. In the accounting document, it is necessary to indicate the amount of the premium and the list of objects applying it.
• Material expenses. When calculating the cost of writing off materials and raw materials spent to provide services, one of the selected valuation methods of raw materials and materials is prescribed in the fiscal policy: by the cost of a unit of inventory, by average cost, by the cost of first-time acquisitions (FIFO). In the same manner, a company's financial specialist can evaluate goods purchased for resale, which is also prescribed in the accounting policy for the purposes of calculating fiscal fees.
• Direct and indirect costs. If the organization has chosen the accrual method for determining income and expenses, then the production and sales costs incurred during the reporting period are divided into direct and indirect. The organization itself lists a list of direct costs in the accounting policy for calculating taxes. Note that the division of costs into direct and indirect is required for all organizations, both manufacturing or selling products, and performing work or providing services. Service providers can attribute direct or indirect costs incurred byin the reporting period, fully to reduce the result of commercial activities.
• Reservation of expenses. If an organization is engaged in non-commercial activities, then it can create a reserve for future expenses associated with its entrepreneurial activities and taken into account when determining the basis for calculating taxes. The public organization itself decides to create reserves for future expenses or not and determines in the taxation policy the types of costs in relation to which the reserve of funds will be used. Of the most common costs, one can single out expenses for the repair of fixed assets, as well as for staff salaries (including vacations, most of which occur during the summer period). Separately, in the accounting policy for tax purposes, it is necessary to register a provision for doubtful debts. It is created not to evenly write off the costs of the organization, but to write off part of the debt in advance. This debt is still subsequently from the category of doubtful, most likely will move into the category of hopeless. In fiscal policy, when forming a reserve for debts, it is advisable to refer not to the general for non-profit organizations, but to a special norm. In practice, to reserve expenses, it is advisable to provide a separate tax register that reflects reserves for various types of future expenses. The types of fiscal accounting registers and the procedure for reflecting data in them for the analytical section of fiscal accounting are developed by the company itself and set to the accounting policy of the organization for calculating fiscalfees.
• VAT. For this fiscal fee, the organization has few options for calculating. All features of the tax calculation are prescribed in the law. The issue of separate accounting for taxable and non-taxable transactions is decided by the taxpayer.

Accounting policy for companies under the simplified tax system

Organizations that have chosen the object of fiscal taxation "income minus expenses" can pay tax at differentiated rates established by regional authorities. A company located on the simplified tax system "income minus expenses" in the accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting, when writing it, fixes its decision in the document. For organizations calculating a single tax on the difference between income and expenses, accounting for expenses is extremely important.

An organization located on the simplified tax system should choose one of the evaluation methods for raw materials and materials:

• at inventory price;
• at cost calculated by average;
• first purchase (FIFO) price.

The organization prescribes its choice in the accounting policy. As a rule, a method similar to the method used in accounting is chosen.

Example of accounting policy for tax accounting

This is an example of the tax policy of a company applying a basic taxation system.

Accounting policy document	Approved version	Basis (Article of the Russian Tax Code)
Procedureaccounting	Accounting in the calculation of fiscal fees in the company is organized on the basis of accounting registers in the accounting department with the addition of details necessary for accounting for fiscal taxation in accordance with the requirements of the law.	313, 314
Procedure for accounting for income (expenses)	Accounting in the calculation of fiscal fees is carried out on an accrual basis.	271, 273
Method of write-off of raw materials and supplies	When calculating the amount of costs when writing off materials, raw materials used in the process of manufacturing goods or performing work, the method of estimating the average cost is used	254
Method of estimating the cost of purchased goods for sale that reduces sales revenues	When selling goods, the cost of their purchase is determined by the organization for the purposes of fiscal taxation at an average price	268
Decommissioning of fixtures and equipment	Accounting in the complex of costs for materials the cost of tools and fixtures as they begin to operate	254
Depreciation calculation methods	Linear method	259
Methods of accounting for capital expenditures on fixed assets	Capital expenditure for tax purposes increases the initial cost of the underlying asset.	258
List of direct costs attributable to the production of goods	Direct costs for tax purposes are material costs, employee compensation costs, compulsory social insurance costs for workers, compulsory insurance costs for production workers, depreciation on fixed assets.	318
Direct costs and their accounting	Direct costs associated with the provision of services in full. They are attributed to the reduction in income from production and sales of a certain period without attribution to the balance of work in progress.
Procedure for allocating direct costs to production that has not been completed	Direct costs are posted between the remainder of the production that is not completed and the products produced relative to direct expense items.	319
Procedure for calculating the amount of purchases of goods by an organization	The cost of purchasing goods includes the original price of the goods, as well as transportation costs.	320
Procedure for contributions of advance payments of the fiscal fee to the financial result on a monthly basis	If the organization pays advance payments, pay them in the amount of one third of the advance payment for the quarter.	268
VAT receivable distribution platform	The amounts of fiscal charges presented by sellers are deducted in a certain proportion, which is determined by law. At the same time, the amount of shipped goods, which is the basis for the proportion of the distribution of the tax to be deducted, is understood to be the income from the sale without taking into account the fee.	170
VAT allocation procedure	When conducting transactions, the tax deduction is fully carried out if the share of total expenses for the purchase of goods does not exceed five percent of the total amount of total expenses.
VAT accounting procedure for taxable and non-taxable transactions	When carrying out taxable and non-taxable transactions at the same time, the company keeps VAT records separately for all transactions. The amounts of fiscal fees for purchased goods are recorded separately on account 19 using the sign of belonging to transactions: fiscalable; not taxable; subject to and non-taxable at the same time.	149

The table shows the main points that need to be written in the sample accounting policy for tax accounting purposes for 2018.

Accounting for IP

Accounting policy for tax accounting purposes for individual entrepreneurs is formed in the same way as for organizations.

If the entrepreneur is on the OSNO, then he needs to register:

• Recording procedure for calculating fiscal charges.
• Procedure for accounting for assets and liabilities.
• Possibility to apply tax deduction for employees.
• Method of evaluating materials and goods purchased for sale (implementation).

If the entrepreneur is on the simplified tax system, then the fiscal accounting policy reflects:

• Method of keeping records and books of income and expenses.
• The section on accounting for fixed assets indicates the cost of acquiring property related to fixed assets and the procedure for attributing them to the expenses of the organization.
• Control of materials and goods, reflecting the calculation of their cost and the procedure for writing them off to costs, the rationing of combustible materials, the procedure for reflecting the fiscal tax on value added.
• Control the cost of selling goods, including storage and maintenance costs, space rental and advertising costs, and how they are expensed for tax purposes.
• Accounting for losses, describing the procedure for attributing financial losses of previous years and exceeding the smallest amount of tax over the calculated one on the financial result of the organization of the current year.

A document containing all of the above information is approved by an order on the accounting policy of tax accounting at the end of the previous period or the beginning of the current year. According to the administrative document, the control over the implementation of the policy is carried out by the responsible person. As a rule, this employee is the entrepreneur himself.